Richard Burns ~ Fascinating In Depth Interiew - Another sizzling Muse It Hot author! :-)

 

Breathtaking Wales

Richard Burns interview!! He's an energetic diverse writer, with an easy style and great imagery. He writes anything from military thrillers to romance erotica, and a new Police Detective series in the works! That's quite the range and I've read his story Sweet Chocolate's First Taste. It's a lovely poignant sexual coming of age tale, well worth reading!  

Please give a warm aloha welcome to my fellow MuseItHot author ~ Richard Burns. Thanks for being here Richard and giving interesting diverse answers to my questions. He's had a rich life and I'm sure the readers will enjoy hearing about it! Aloha! :-)

 

 

Tell our readers a wee bit about yourself. What are 5 things you wished you’d done, have done or are still to do, on the Bucket List? J

        I’m actually pretty lucky in this regard, because I’ve pretty much accomplished almost everything I wanted to do as a teenage boy. 

 

I became an excellent Soldier, a Paratrooper, Commando, Special Forces/Green Beret. Then later a Police Officer in Chicago, a Federal Agent in Detroit.

 

I married the bravest & finest woman, best mother and without a doubt, the best ER nurse on Chicago south side and now the best in Detroit! I have five kids & four grandkids, so there isn’t a lot that I’ve missed out on. Life is pretty good!

 

I’ve gotten 3 combat deployments to Afghanistan and one to the Middle East right after the bombing of the US Marine Barracks in Lebanon, 1984. 

 

Now, now I’m livin’ the dream! I’m as lucky as anybody else alive!

 

1. I guess I still have an outdoor/beachfront sex fantasy, along with a Winter/Snow fall fantasy, but those are more a matter of “Logistics,” than anything else.

 

2.  I would like to write a Best Seller, and I’m just now getting to a point in my life where I can afford to put some time to that. After that, the trick is to write one every year thereafter!

 

 

Tell us about the genre you write, why do you love it and how did you get into it?  

         I’ve been writing a great deal of Romance and the main reason for that is because that’s just what I started with. I’m a member of a writer’s association, only because it was a passing fancy.  One day I got a Call for Submissions from a publisher that was seeking Erotic stories about your first time. I thought to myself, “I’ve got that story…”

     The next day, I got a Call for Submissions from another publisher, Simon & Schuster, seeking Erotic story submission involving strong Black women.

    I thought, “Hey! Same story!” 

So I wrote the story “Sweet Chocolate’s First Taste,” submitted it to both publishers and the only one to reply was Simon & Schuster’s—Zane and she wanted to use the story in her anthology, “Chocolate Flava 3.”

    Yes, my first time was with a beautiful black woman while I, however, am as white as it gets.  Perhaps this is why I’ve developed a passion for contrast. When I wrote “Sweet Chocolate’s First Taste,” I tried to focus on the contrasts in color, our racial differences, ages, backgrounds and social circles, basic life experiences, etc.

    Then I thought, ‘well, since I seem to have a knack for this genre, I should probably stay here for a while.” 

The thing I like most about Erotica is what is does to the reader, provided you’re a good writer.  It makes their breath shorter, their pulse quicken, what was dry is now wet, what was soft is now hard.  No matter how you felt about your spouse before you started reading, chances are, you feel differently now.

    I have a lot of people who chuckle and sometimes outright laugh when I tell them what I write, but everybody, and I do mean everybody, reads it!  Whether it’s “Penthouse, Letters,” or some Historical Romance, or a Period piece, at some level some variation, everybody reads it.

     And yes! I like happy endings!

 

What’s your most favorite restaurant in the world? Where, why and the best dish/es they make?

       Morton’s Steakhouse, Troy, Michigan.  This is without a doubt, the finest Restaurant in the Detroit Metro area!!! The problem is: It ain’t the cheapest joint in town. Favorite dish??? Sorry, but when the price tag is this steep, you can’t eat there often enough to have tried the entire menu.  Besides, my states vary, whatever it is:  It’s charred RARE!

 

Remember those ads for Expedia that asked, ‘If you could go anywhere in the world, but have to go right now?’ Where would you have gone and would you have said to YES to right now? What pulls and entices you to that country?  

         As it stands right now, I’m due back in Afghanistan, but I think I’d like to hit Wales & Scotland. Wales is some of the most beautiful terrain I’ve ever seen and I imagine that Scotland looks much the same. With brilliant greens, and rocky mountains with sharp jagged outcrops… It should be breath taking.

    New Zealand sounds very interesting too. To be skiing in the morning and sunning yourself on the beach in the afternoon, just sounds fantastic. If you haven’t figured it out, I’m big on contrast.

  

Richard loves contrast. You'll certainly get it in New Zealand. :-)

 

 

What parts of you, are incorporated into your characters?

         Quite a bit actually. I think most of my main masculine characters are largely based on me.  Why?  Because I’m a pretty interesting guy, with a lot of experience, in a lot of fascinating field.  Even in those cases where they are based on somebody else, the dialog in the story is almost all me.

     In 2009, I was deployed to Afghanistan on my second tour of duty as a Military Intelligence Operator, with the 7^th Special Forces Group (Airborne), in the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force—Afghanistan (CJSOTF-A).

     I wrote a weekly journal to family and friends and I made every week a cliff hanger. I wanted everybody sitting on the edge of their seats in rapt attention in total suspense.  Since everything I did was al Top Secret, I had to fictionalize the whole story, but all the people, places are all real.  All of the fights are real too, but may or may night have occurred during the 2009 tour.  Anybody familiar with the headlines during that time may recognize things.

     When I got home, everybody raved about it, said I needed to send it off to a publisher. I sent it off to Eternal Press and Damnation books.

“Say Goodnight,” launched in October 2010.  This is a gripping, spine-tingling suspense thriller. I was going to say, read what it’s like to be…  But no!  That’s not accurate. This book is:  Live the life, of a Special Forces Intelligence Operator on a Top Secret Mission in 2009, Afghanistan. Feel the unbelievable tension, the skull crushing stress, the unquenchable thirst, based on notes take contemporaneously to events as they occurred on the ground.

    I’ve gotten some really good reviews on Amazon’s Kindle edition! I urge everybody to check out those reviews!

     I’ve been told I need to get a sequel to “Say Goodnight,” underway. But now I’m kind of thinking of a series that is driven by the headlines.

 

 

 

Favorite male hero/public figure you admire in the world, dead or alive, and why?

          I think like most Intelligence professionals, I think that James Bond is so far removed from reality that it is almost hard to believe that we’re supposed to be in the same business. That said, the story are always exciting, the location are always exotic & scenic, and the women are always hot, so that never hurts.

     As far as real people go, Mark Twain and Bill Shakespeare are very high on my list. Mark Twain I read as young boy, Shakespeare, I avoided like the plague in High School.  However, later, in the Army, I had to write a report on “Henry V,” the quintessential book on leadership. It was then I realized just how deep Shakespeare was.

     I equate Twain & Shakespeare because I believe they are both equally fantastic authors, Twain was easier for me to grasp because he didn’t speak in vernacular or parable as much.  But these are two authors that can not be over analyzed. Now I’ve heard college students scoff at Shakespeare because “he’s an oxcart in a nuclear age and hardly relevant anymore!”

     I couldn’t disagree more, because Twain & Shakespeare didn’t write about the problems of their day.  They wrote about the one thing that would remain consistent throughout the ages: Human Nature.

 

Favorite female heroine/public figure you admire in the world, dead or alive, and why?  

         I always liked Becky Thatcher as I was reading Twain. I always figured she had to be a strong girl of substantial spine to go wandering off on such an adventure with Tom & Huck. But I really hate weak women!

    I recently wrote a couple of novellas, two of a trilogy, I’ll have the third submitted soon.  The trilogy is Dark Fiction and part of the Wild Darkness call up from Muse it Up Publishing, Montreal, Quebec.

     The first is a paranormal, scorching HOT Romance, that is a continuation of “the Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” by Washington Irving. 

     Now I wanted my characters to be a pair of young lovers who venture into the woods for an evening of romance and accidentally unleash the headless horseman on 21^st Century New York. 

     Now, I have to point out, that I had my story submitted well before the Fox TV Series, so any similarities are purely coincidental. But I didn’t want my characters to be a bunch of witless teens that go running and screaming through the woods only to die groveling at the feet of some monster/villain.  So I made my characters two Combat Veterans from Iraq & Afghanistan, so they are people of means and capability.  Now there’s a lot more to this story and it launches in late summer this year. I ask everybody to stay on the lookout for “Into Darkness Eternal.”

    History buffs, especially Military History, will also love the second installment of that series, “Into Darkness Again,” which is a Paranormal Sci-Fi, also scorching HOT, with the same hero & heroine having to travel back to the horseman’s time period in order to keep our timeline from collapsing in on itself. This is also an espionage suspense/thriller. I was meticulous in my research and my timeline. Personally, I think a lot of people will enjoy this story even if they are not history buffs.

    By the way, AMC TV network came out with their series, “Turn,” AFTER me again!!!  Although some of the characters are the same, since we both did our research!  I was FIRST, any similarities are purely coincidental.

 

 

Have you ever had a character just “do their own thing?” Have you ever had an argument with one of your characters? Or anything else odd happen?

         As a matter of fact, yes. That ‘best seller,’ I’m in the process of writing, flashes back & forth in time, and half way through I realized that I could use one character and keep him consistent throughout the ages.

    An unintentional common thread.

    In “Say Goodnight,” I wrote one character in, and then decided that he should be a major character.  No, not big like Claude Raines in “Casablanca,” sort of big.

     However, I use those arguments that I might have with myself to explain intricate of complex portions of my story, to the reader.

     A friend of mine develops a ‘kindred spirit’, if you will, with her characters. So far, my hero & heroine are my only two major characters in my stories that I would have that kind of a connection with. But I expect that can change as I grow as a writer.

What’s your passion in life?

         As of late, it’s been writing. However, I also enjoy Black & White photography, travel and I’m still absolutely drooling stupid nuts for my wife!

 

What’s your writer’s routine? Do you write whenever or at certain times? Are you a pantser or plotter? Where do you like to write?

          To be honest, I really haven’t had much of a chance to start one. However, for the most part, on those days where my only mission is to write, I’d say I probably sit down and start banging the keys at around 9:00 and go to at least 10:30, more like 11:30. I then go over what I just wrote and tune it a little then get back to it until at least 1:00 before breaking for lunch.  Then, repeat.  With a full novel, such as I’m writing now, I want to get a decent Chapter a week in.   

    Now, typically to date, in writing a novella, I can get to 10K-15K words in a weekend. But I have to be writing all weekend, from Friday night to Sunday afternoon and I must have a complete picture of the story in my mind when I start. So I can write a complete novella in a weekend. It’s the back & forth with proofreaders and editors that becomes the most time consuming part of the process.

     I wrote a Christmas story, “The Merriest Christmas Ever,” about a wounded warrior returning home immediately after World War II.  This came out to be almost 15,000 words.  Started Friday afternoon and finished Sunday morning.  And this is a Very Powerful, emotional, highly erotic romance of the ages!  Yes, it’s a time-period piece, but I stayed true to history.

     The following weekend, I wrote another Christmas story that focused on Confessions, entitled, “The Penitent,” that will launched this year from Muse It Up Publishing, Montreal, again.  I have no launch window for “the Merriest Christmas Ever,” at this time.

 

If you could pick a past life, what time period would appeal to you and why? Would you be male or female? Rich or poor?  

         Male, without a doubt, and I would probably go back to World War II:

#1) Because I’m a Soldier and these were the opening days of Modern Special Warfare.

#2) Because I am a hardcore, unrepentant, unapologetic Jazz Fanatic!!! And what a day it was for Jazz!!!

#3) Rich or Poor??? I’ve never understood why it has to be those polar extremes! Democrats would have you believe that this is still 1929 America, Great Depression in full swing, soup lines stretch around the block 5 or 6 times, black men hang from every street light and it’s just not so!  There is still a Middle Class, as there always has been.  Now whether they are thriving or not, or why they are not, is an argument that we can have.  I know why that is, but many will think it’s debatable, although it really is not.

Although, the Civil War was also an interesting time and the years following with the expansion west.  In fact, I have an idea for a series of books focused on this point in history. But those are much further down the road.

  

 

 

Contact Richard on:

 

http://www.RichardBurnsBooks.com

 http://www.MostEroticBooks.com

  

I have a webpage where people can come to preview and purchase any of my books, novellas or short stories, as well as those of a few friends.  Readers can also post a comment in my guestbook and I invite everybody to stop by and do exactly that. Also, a friend of mine, Mark Casigh, also has his own webpage, Most Erotic Books, which also carries everything I’ve written and readers can also post comments there, as well.  

 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Say-Good-Night/106772642838811 \

 

https://www.facebook.com/SweetChocolatesFirstTaste

I have a FB page as well as FB pages for both “Sweet Chocolate’s First Taste,” and “Say Goodnight.”  By the way, I could use a few more ‘likes,’ too!  So please stop by and take a look.

       

 

You can find Richard Burns books at ~

Damnation Books

 

Say Good Night

 

http://damnationbooks.com/book.php?isbn=9781615726202

 

 

 

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Say Good Night ~ Military Thriller

A US Special Forces Military Intelligence Soldier uncovers an Al-Qaeda operation to ruin the Multi-national coalition. A Special Forces Soldier in Afghanistan, 2009 uncovers a major enemy operation. It's the kind which requires high level involvement. Very high level. Just how high does it go? See for yourself, as you experience first hand the tension and excitement of being on an Intelligence Operation in Afghanistan, through the vivid descriptions of the author and his notes taken contemporaneous to the events!

Quotes:

"I am…'Binkey'."

"You don’t use your weapon unless I tell you to."

“Kill him. Terminate with extreme prejudice.”

Excerpt:
“They have something big planned. Bigger than you or I ever dreamed of.”

“How about a few specifics?”

“I don’t know. I think it involves some genius-ly forged documents. They tell me they have sources inside of your White House! It will break everything! Your coalition against us; your relations with the Chinese; your relations with Canada…the English. Everything!” He said this all in frantic whispers.

“What makes you say that?” In that instant a single gunshot rang out just about fifty yards away. Bijoux arched his back and collapsed. He was dead before his last breath left his mouth.
_________________________________________________

You can find Richard Burns books at ~

Muse It Hot Publishing

 

Sweet Chocolate's First Taste

 

 

https://museithotpublishing.com/index.php/search?keyword=sweet+&limitstart=0&option=com_virtuemart&view=category

 

 

 

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Sweet Chocolate's First Taste ~ Romance Erotica

A young white soldier has his first sexual encounter.  The racial kettle of the southern US in 1979 is at a constant simmer.  And just how good can a hooker be, when it’s just another day’s work?  Or is there no substitute for professionalism?

Excerpt:

Instantly, I was captivated, and a little intimidated by both her age, almost thirty, and her luscious beauty. The woman—and she was a real woman, not a kid—had a pleasant round face with high cheek bones that gave it depth. She was tall, but still several inches shorter than my six feet, but I was struck by her very dark, coffee brown complexion, which seemed at odds with her flowing, shiny curls of gorgeous shoulder-length hair. My palms were sweaty at the thought of getting them on her beautiful, perfectly proportioned breasts. Those breasts seemed to call to me, with each sway and bounce.  Her soft white cotton dress fit her form sensationally, hugging her upper body alluringly, accentuating the breadth of her torso before tapering down to her narrow waist, then loosely flowing over the graceful, but sweeping curve of her hips. 

My arms wanted to encircle that narrow waist, to lay my hand atop that scrumptious, perfectly developed ass, and then just pull her body to mine. To press our chests and hips together, to meld into a single being; to feel her softness pressed against my hardness. To feel the slope and curve of her back as those glorious breasts pressed against my chest. She was perhaps the most beautiful black woman I had ever met. All of these thoughts vanished quickly with my growing anxiety at my impending moment.
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Coming Soon!!!

Into Darkness Eternal:  Paranormal Sci-Fi, Erotic Romance

Into Darkness Again:  Paranormal Historic Period Romance, strong Military History.

Into the Darkest Mine:  Paranormal Historic Romance, also with a strong Military History aspect.

The Merriest Christmas Ever

Currently in the works…

The Newsman:  Violent Crimes

         This is a fictional, although extremely accurate account of a Chicago Police Violent Crimes Detective in 2000 Chicago, Illinois. Deal with the politics, the pressure and a brand new Romance with a long time attraction.

         Detective Jack McGurn just passed the detective’s exam and is divorced and a recovering drunk.  He started working one of the worse beats on Chicago’s south side, Grand Crossings District. Come see what it's like to be a Violent Crimes Detective in one of the most volatile areas of the city. 



The Bucket List ~ Aaron and I at Badlands National Park
~ The Americana Kitsch and Culture Tour 2011

The Bucket List

On Friday this week, 2 May 2014, my launch for my very first romance erotica book happens. Was this always on my bucket list?

Actually, it wasn’t.

Last year, I hit the dreaded fifty and some part of me simply rebelled. I wasn’t ready to hang up my sensuality, leave it at the door, like a grubby pair of worn out shoes. Almost ready for the rubbish bin, no longer fit to wear out in public.

I started to write again, surprised at the characters turning up, what they were doing, and where they were going. Because I didn’t think I was going anywhere with it, I didn’t think to corral them in any way. I just let them do their own thing. Imagine my surprise, when they started to turn up every day, words in hand, attitudes on display. “Here’s today’s words.” They’d thrust them at me.

“Er…okay, thanks.” I’d take them, wondering about some of the places they wanted me to take them in the story. I thought, would people really read that? It was pretty bloody exciting for me, but would other people think that? I wasn’t sure, so new to this genre, that I didn’t have a clue that it was the number two best selling genre out there, and the market was hot. I talked to my mentor, who told me to let my rogue character have some room to move. Nicknamed bloody Charlie and now deeply loved by everyone who reads about him, I finally had to let him do his own thing. And thank God I did.

Here I am, one year later, publishing on Friday. Wow. J It’s an amazing feeling. I can barely comprehend it.

 

My book cover!! Wow!! :-)

 

I wouldn’t have gotten here without the help of some people along the way who really need mentioning. Susan Davis, my editor. She has been fabulous to work with and so encouraging. We just seemed to be on the same page. How could you ask for anything more?

Lea Schizas at MuseItHot Publishing—what a powerhouse of energy and enthusiasm. I feel like I lucked out, getting into Muse.

Mikey Rakes, who’s publishing soon under Michele Micheal Rakes. She believed in me and taught me so much about editing and being a better writer. She also encouraged me to make my first submission. I wouldn’t be here without her.

The great people at ERWA and Muse who are a daily support for me, you know who you are. J My good friends who have been behind me one hundred percent.

And finally, my late husband Aaron Brent Amor, who died earlier this year at forty-five, with a bucket list still in him. Without his amazing back up and support, I wouldn’t be here now. He wanted me to be a writer…and here I am. Thank you darling man.

 

This image of two blended images 'mysteriously' appeared on Aaron's fb page after he died

 

I hate death. It’s so final. And it’s not the dead who suffer, but those who are left behind… We don’t get over a death, we go through it. It reminds me to live though. That life’s for living. Not when I’m seventy, but right now.  

If I look back, I realize in truth, that writing a book and getting it published in ‘a real publishing’ house was probably always on my bucket list. So, thank you every single person who made that a reality for me.

I like to know what’s on people’s bucket lists. I have a list a mile long of places I still MUST travel to. I would have loved to do them with Aaron, he was the most wonderful person to travel with. We had a ball. J See—The Americana Kitsch and Culture Tour RV USA road trip blog.    

 

Aaron with our 30 foot RV 'Charlie'

 

I’m a born gypsy, my love of travel started with my mum’s world trip in 1972. Incredibly glamorous to us in little old New Zealand. Mum bought me a big map and we made colored pins and flags, so I could map her way around the world. I loved it. I fell in love with the postcards and the odd disconnected phone calls. Sometimes we’d wait hours for a call to come through. It would have been ‘booked,’ then it would be queued up and gone through numerous operators to reach us. We’d sometimes only get five frustrating minutes on the phone to her, before the connection was broken. But it fueled my love of travel.  

 

I had a world map when Mum went on her tour and colored pins to stick all over it. I LOVED it.

 

It was then backed up by Friday afternoons at Primary School where we got to watch all sorts of films. Some about things like logging in Canada. Others on how the Inuit’s dried their washing up in the wilds of Alaska, but many were on more exciting travel countries. Though the drying of washing in the frozen tundra of Alaska has remained with me to this day. It was quite fascinating.  

And it’s ALL fascinating to me. When I travel I want to experience ALL of it. I once met a man who went to France for a month and miraculously managed to not eat a single piece of fabulous French cheese from a market, or a Tarte Fraise. Or even go to a cheap bistro. They brought ham and baguettes, making their own sandwiches each day. I was horrified. They had the money, but lacked the imagination to realize that France’s food culture is one of THE things you ‘go to see’ in France.  

When I was in Intermediate school, I had a wonderful teacher Ms. Robinson, who always told us wonderful stories about the world in general. In her class room, she had terrific tongue-in-cheek posters that said things like: Go to Moscow—paint the town red. I didn’t really get the double meaning at the time, but it fascinated me none the less.  

 

 

The images in my mind of Russia are opulent (fake) fur hats, big overcoats, trimmed in fake fur, vodka and caviar. And the wonderful onion domes of the churches. For reasons I can only describe as sheer insanity—I want to go to Russia in the winter. It seems perfect to me. No doubt, five minutes into the extreme cold and snow, I’d be swearing like a trooper. And frantically working my bloody iPhone—with my frozen fingers—trying to rebook myself out of there pronto to somewhere warm and sunny.

But still…the romantic notion is there. I want to hear the sexy sultry Russian accents around me, see the exotic bone structure of some of the woman. I hate vodka and caviar, but well…I still want to go to Russia.

 

St Basils Cathedral in St Petersburg ~ The most beautiful of the Russian churches.

 

 



Isn't she just so beautiful!



 

Mum’s world tour with my Grandfather in 1972 created the quintessential basis for my travel yearning. Travel was so glamorous back then. People still got on planes in their best outfits. Proper shoes and stockings for the woman—a good going away flying outfit. A tie for the men and a jacket, and some smart dress shoes, nicely polished. Hats and gloves had bitten the dust in the ‘60s, but still—people traveled in style! People also smoked like trains on aircraft—so some things have changed for the good. And besides, I’m with the artist SARK, who once traveled in her pajamas. She met someone who looked like Bob Hope as she was strolling down the concourse.

“Nice PJ’s,” said Bob.

SARK said to her friend, “That looked like Bob Hope.”

Her friend said, “That was Bob Hope.’

I can really see how traveling in your jammies would be soooo comfortable. I don’t actually own any nightwear, but the thought is wonderful. I could have special travel jammies or perhaps a negligee. That’s bound to get me noticed. J  

I have three basic unbreakable rules when traveling—always travel with a feather pillow, a hottie (hot water bottle) and every pair of underwear you own.

If the bed’s awful, at least you can get your head comfortable. On an aircraft, you can squish and squash a feather pillow into all sorts of shapes that allow you to get some sleep. If you’re cold or have a sprain, a hottie fixes all that ails. And at least if you’re wearing a grubby shirt or dress, clean panties make up for other deficits.

 

Always travel with a hottie. :-)

 

I want to go back to Ireland again. It’s hard to get sick of Ireland. The lyrical voices, fabulous soups, eye popping greenness, and the feeling of magic.

I’d pop into Waterford Crystal and order a HUGE flower vase thingee for the center of the table. Enter Trinity Church in Cork and look up the Irish rellys which elude the genealogy websites. Stand on Morrison Quay at number 11, where my Great Great etc Grandfather had his Dental Surgery practice. Then toddle down to Kenmare for several days on the Beara Peninsula and just soak it up. I want to sleep in the marvelous rooms at Brooklane Hotel in Kenmare. Go into the bar for a drink, have a bowl of soup and soda bread. Then be staggeringly full just from the soup. No room for a main meal. Afterwards, I’d sit in front of the fire and stare at the Poppy painting in their lounge.

 

Trinity Church where my family got married and baptized, Cork City, Co. Cork, Ireland

 

Morrison Quay where my Gr Gr Gr Grandfather had his dental surgery. Notice Trinity Church in this photo and the one above.

 



The gorgeous, elegant and super comfortable Brooklane in Kenmare, Co. Cork, Ireland



 

 

 

I’d shop at Quills, and get that most prized of Irish souvenirs—the gumboot. Handy for trekking over fields and stiles to see Stone Circles—especially Ardgroom. I’d have one more go at driving to the North of Ireland and track down more Irish rellys. Passing through Galway and breathing it in. There’s nowhere, quite like Galway.

 

Ardgroom Stone Circle ~ A magical still activated stone circle

 

 

 

From there, a short drive back to Waterford area and hop on a ferry to Northern Wales in the summer. I think that season is roughly around July 17^th every year or thereabouts. The rest of the time, the weather is shocking, but I love Wales.

Then tiki-tour down to the farthest tip of Cornwall, near Lands End. Stopping in the wee village of St. Just and standing in the graveyard surrounded by relatives. Quite literally, half the people buried there are my family, mostly miners. What a unique feeling that would be. I want to go into a shop and recognize a family feature in someone’s face and ask them, “Are you a Lanyon by any chance?”

And for them to say, “Yes, you must be too, from the look of you.”

The wee mining village of St Just. That church has married, baptized and seen the deaths of so many of my relatives, going all the way back to the time it was built.

 

 

When I’ve had enough of the cold and damp, I’d hop a plane to the Greek Islands. Sit in a wee Taverna and sip horrible Greek Retsina, while I nibble and slurp at fat Greek olives, sopping up the olive oil with pita bread. I want to blend in (with my red hair and pale white skin—I know, but we’re all allowed fantasies!) and somehow pronounce at least a few words of Greek. I want to be immersed in Greece. I like the Greeks. I’ve had Greek friends and worked for Greeks and always felt at home and comforted by their culture and presence. I get the Greeks. Everything is clear. There are no hidden emotions, life is lived with gusto. I love that.

 

Oooh... can't you imagine sitting here, slurping on olives, perfect oil, briny feta cheese and retsina. Heaven

  

 

 

No surprise that Muse It Up Publishing is run by the energetic and dynamic Greek, Lea Schizas.

When I lived in Florida and hated it. I used to go to a tiny Greek restaurant nearby and they treated me like a local family person. I could go there when I was alone and lonely, and they’d fuss over me, bringing me gorgeous food. For a short time, I’d feel comforted and cocooned. I liked that feeling a lot.

 

 

I want to return to France and soak myself in it.

I love France. The food is beyond belief. The culture is fascinating. How can you not love a nation that reveres food and sets life around it? I don’t have much of a sweet tooth but when I’m there, I eat pastries every morning with ravagement. I eat a flaky buttery crisp croissant every morning without fail, then another in the afternoon because—how can you resist! I wrap my mouth around big slabs of the most perfect Quiche Lorraine only the French seem to perfect. Mine is close, but still doesn’t seem to have enough butter or cream, or something! Arghhhh.  

 

 

 

 

They have the MOST perfect pastry displays in France. I could drool all day and I don't have much of a sweet tooth but these are so exquisite. Aaron and I used to get a box of things early in the morning. Then we'd say, about half an hour into the drive, "Do you think it's too early for a pastry?" :-)

  

 

To sit in a sidewalk café and sip a glass of wine is a perfect moment in France. I love the smell of the heavy clove cigarettes, the French men and the flair they have. They enjoy their clothes. I love the Citron Press where you can get fresh citrus juice. I love the country that has the most sublime cheeses in the world. And thinks that cooking with butter, cream and alcohol are completely natural. I so agree. 

I want to go to the Netherlands in the tulip season and god forbid—ride a bloody bicycle amongst the fields. The fact I’m athletically challenged is neither here nor there. I want to be somewhere where I can take at least a thousand photos of the tulips and be moving at a pace that lets me do that. Okay—never mind. I could walk! I can’t hold a bicycle up, pedal AND take pictures at the same time.

 

I always think tulips look good enough to eat

 

 

 

I want to go and see Van Gogh collection. I’m bored by his sunflowers and such works, but seeing his later works. Wow. They have so much texture and life in them, they are almost edible.

I want to buy a postcard of a little Dutch girl that mum sent us when she traveled with her father. See the big cheese rounds being wheeled around the market they have somewhere. I want to go to the miniature town that even has an airport. I remembered loving mums pictures.

 

My sister and I both loved these postcards when we got them from Mum on her overseas trip

 

I want to go to Germany again when it’s snowing and see the Cuckoo Clock places decked in snow. Go to the delicious village name of Oberammergau. Then eat good German food, full of meat and cream and deliciousness.

 

 

 

 

The list just goes on and on…

But that’s okay. It’s what makes our life rich and lush. I only wish Aaron was here to do it with. He loved to travel. He loved me being a writer. And my first book Dark War is dedicated to him and my mum Olwyn Loudon, who also died at forty-five. Thank you both for always encouraging me to be me and be a writer. I love you both very much. I wish you were here in person to see this. :-) xoxoxo

 

My mum Olwyn Loudon ~ super glammy!!! :-)